Panel probing Walmart’s lobbying charge submits report

A government-appointed committee that was looking into allegations of US retail major Walmart’s lobbying activities to enter the Indian market has submitted its report to corporate affairs minister Sachin Pilot on Saturday.

A government-appointed committee that was looking into allegations of US retail major Walmart’s lobbying activities to enter the Indian market has submitted its report to corporate affairs minister Sachin Pilot on Saturday.

“The report has just been submitted, the minister would go through it,” said a senior corporate affairs ministry.

There were reports that the committee has given Walmart a clean chit but it could not be independently verified.

The committee, headed by former chief justice of Punjab and Haryana Mukul Mudgal, was set up in January to examine “whether the retail giant undertook any activities in India in contravention of any Indian law”.

Following an uproar, the government had in December 2012 said that the matter would be thoroughly probed. The committee met five times and had also held meetings with Walmart representatives.

The official, who did not wish to be identified, said a decision on the report would be taken “at the earliest”.